 |
 |
Dear Clive I agree with your general complaint about the lack of reflection that has come to typify design studies. The large quote you offer, from Simon, takes us into interesting territory. My concern with what Simon is talking about is his open-ended structure. The "new prospects [that] are opened up at each step in the process" seem to be exciting. Simon goes on to relate such a practice of opening-up-prospects to the work of artists. However, this kind of art process (and-itis) is intrinsically delusional. Worse, the description by Simon of what an artist does is not a fair account of what takes place. While there might be aspects of painting (any creative activity) in which prospect opening is present, there are equally and more importantly, aspects of selection (which of the thousand possible prospects might I follow) and then there are aspects of election (which of the millions of possible prospects I hypostatize) that need to be figured if not valued more highly. Opening up prospects is potentially as useful as going into a super market and opening every can of tomato soup and pouring the contents on to the floor. The Zen story that matches this is the one about students polishing stones in hope of making mirrors. cheers keith russell OZ newcastle